Me and my buddies were recently talking about how we feel like we eat pretty much anything we want every day and we're not fat. And I asked "I mean, how much food do you have to eat to get obese? That seems crazy that we eat like this and we're healthy." (We do occasionally have a salad if our lunch was a bowl of lard to make some attempt at evening our day out)

All of us pretty much eat two meals a day. Lunch around 11 or 12 and dinner at 5 or 6. And we don't generally hold back. We'll get cheese steaks, Mexican, Chinese, whatever. But then I read things like this. Eating 3 god damn dinners. Literally 1.5x of our entire days food in one sitting, and it makes me realize that people get fat not because of WHAT they eat. I truely is how MUCH you eat.

Theme parks are adding wider seats, usually as an option next to the regular sizes. I've seen them at Six Flags here in Dallas. Come to think of it, I've seen three sizes on one ride which swings overhead and needs to be balanced -- biggest ones in the center, slightly smaller ones to either side, and then regular size on the ends.

I do not believe it's true that she weighs 126 lbs (9 stone) unless she's 5'2" or shorter (making her husband about 5'5" or 5'6"). She looks about the same size as me, and I'm 15-20lbs heavier (I fluctuate between 140 and 145) and only 2 inches taller. Women's bodies, by and large, when we take care of ourselves, do try to build symmetrically to our breasts. That little girl is very pretty, but she is never going to be a US size 6... which is what a European size 10 is equivalent to. US size 10? Absolutely. But she is far too well-endowed to be much smaller, and those puppies are real.

With how young her baby is in the before pictures, it's possible that she's still breastfeeding. That will result in a larger bust. Or, perhaps she was when the first three "after" pictures were taken (layers of tank tops are a dead giveaway for breastfeeding). In the last after photo she's definitely looks smaller than the other three, and I can believe 126lbs in that one.

MycroftHolmes:Sorry to rain on your smug, but a lot of people are obese eating exactly as you describe. You have been blessed with a good metabolism (or are young), but eventually even two meals a day of not holding back restaurant food will lead to unhealthy weight gain.

Not holding back is a very different standard for fat people than for fit ones, that's the problem. A lot of fat people think they're eating normal portions, but when independent observers come in and see how much they're shoveling on their plates, it's nowhere close to normal. Weight watchers, to me, looks pretty close to what I consider normal amounts of food, though a bit less than I would eat because it's designed to help people drop weight.

But you mention metabolism. You do know that that's not an immutable characteristic, right? Up the fiber in your diet, for example, and drink more water.

Really, the magic bullet is to eat normal portions, of a balanced diet (fruits, veggies, up the legumes- filling and very healthy- you can basically eat them until you're full without consequence, lean meats), made from real food.Cut the processed shait. Cut soda to once a week or less (beer is fine- it's the HFCS you need to avoid, for a variety of reasons). If you drink a lot of soda during the day, switch to tea or coffee (screw the people who say caffeine isn't healthy). Or water. Here's a big one: switch to whole grains. They really are much healthier for you than white bread- you even get protein from the deal, not just sugars! More filling at the same amount of calories, more flavorful, more interesting texture...

drxym:I was in Disneyworld and Universal recently and yes they had "modified" seats for fat people. I can understand parks accommodating disabled people who have no choice about their predicament, fat people not so much.

Yeah. Once you let yourself get to the point where you need to wipe your ass with a rag on a stick, it's time to consider euthanizing yourself for the benefit of humanity.

BeezyBates:Me and my buddies were recently talking about how we feel like we eat pretty much anything we want every day and we're not fat. And I asked "I mean, how much food do you have to eat to get obese? That seems crazy that we eat like this and we're healthy." (We do occasionally have a salad if our lunch was a bowl of lard to make some attempt at evening our day out)

All of us pretty much eat two meals a day. Lunch around 11 or 12 and dinner at 5 or 6. And we don't generally hold back. We'll get cheese steaks, Mexican, Chinese, whatever. But then I read things like this. Eating 3 god damn dinners. Literally 1.5x of our entire days food in one sitting, and it makes me realize that people get fat not because of WHAT they eat. I truely is how MUCH you eat.

No, it's what you eat. Your diet is probably a lot more balanced than you're saying it is, I bet you're young enough that your body is still burning calories to grow. I wouldn't be surprised if you and you're buddies engage in some sort of physical group activity daily - even if it's racing each other down the block.All anyone has to do to get fat is eat 2000 calories a day and do absolutely nothing to burn those calories. More typical though is the person that eats a couple normal sized meals a day that are 2000 calories each. And finally you can be active, eat a low calorie diet, and have an underactive thyroid. I know that sounds like a lame excuse, but there is medication to treat it and people start losing weight once they are on it. Unfortunately, doctors are often prejudiced and won't bother testing for it.